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Many sports are played over the course of a season, which means if you lose, you have other opportunities to make amends. However, boxing isn’t like this. Some of the best boxers will only fight two or three times a year, which means you have months to prepare and make every punch count when you eventually get your moment.
Because of all the hype from the fans and the media, the fighters can often leave the ring earning a hefty sum of money, whether they win or lose, unlike the fans who have backed the losers on their favorite sports betting site.
That’s why we wanted to know the fighters who have earned the most per punch. We’ve looked at some of the biggest fights in the last decade, and calculated the amount of money earned per successful punch as well as the losing fighters with the highest prize purses.
Floyd Mayweather earned almost $300k per punch, more than any other boxer
We’ve looked at some of the biggest fights since 2010 and found out the prize purse, and the punches landed for each fighter involved, to reveal the highest-earning hitters.
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. – $287,313 per punch
Floyd Mayweather Jr. takes the top spot, earning an estimated $287k per punch. Mayweather earned himself the nickname ‘Money’ over his 25-year career, and it’s clear to see why. Mayweather has earned an estimated $500m from prize purses, landing close to 2,000 punches. Money, or ‘Pretty Boy’ to use another one of his nicknames, boasts an unbeaten career with 50 fights and 50 victories, a record which establishes him as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers of all time.
2. Conor McGregor – $270,270 per punch
Despite being an MMA fighter, Conor McGregor sneaks into second place earning just over $270k per punch. McGregor’s first and last boxing fight came against Floyd Mayweather, a bout billed as ‘The Money Fight’. It certainly lived up to expectations with McGregor walking away with an estimated $30m guaranteed. The Irishman may have lost, but his bank account certainly won.
3. Anthony Joshua – $250,564 per punch
Completing our top three is Anthony Joshua, who has earned an estimated $250k per punch. Out of the four of Joshua’s fights that generated over 1 million pay-per-view buys, the Brit came out victorious in every single one against opponents Joseph Parker, Wladimir Klitschko, Alexander Povetkin, and Andy Ruiz Jr.
Manny Pacquiao earned almost $60m on average per losing fight
We’ve looked at the biggest fights of the last decade to reveal the losing fighters who left the ring as financial winners.
1. Manny Pacquiao – $57.33m per loss
Manny Pacquiao takes the top spot, earning an average of just over $57m per losing fight since 2010. In the three fights Pacquiao has lost since 2010, the Filipino has earned himself a total of $172m. The majority of this huge total came from his fight against Floyd Mayweather where he had an estimated purse of $120m.
2. Conor McGregor – $30m per loss
Conor McGregor takes second place once again, with his one and only boxing fight earning him an estimated purse of $30m. Despite being an MMA fighter, McGregor started the fight strong and was even ahead on one of the judges’ scorecards. However as the Irishman started to tire, Mayweather pounced and forced the official to end the fight in round 10 in favor of Mayweather. Despite losing, many people were impressed with McGregor, who put in a competitive effort against one of the best.
3. Andy Ruiz Jr. – $13m per loss
Andy Ruiz Jr. completes our top three, earning an estimated $13m per loss. Ruiz’s only loss came in the rematch against Anthony Joshua. Ruiz ended Joshua’s unbeaten record in the first fight, however, he got his revenge winning by unanimous decision. Nevertheless, the Mexican-American earned an estimated purse of $13m for his efforts.
Methodology
For our seeding list, we used Wikipedia’s list of pay-per-view boxing fights which generated at least one million buys worldwide from 2010 onwards.
We then used Bleacher Report, Wikipedia, SBnation, ESPN, and Bad Left Hook, to calculate the purses for each boxing fight. The figures represent the guaranteed amount each fighter would earn, which does not include the additional money they would make from pay-per-view sales.
We then used Boxstat, Boxrec, Bleacher Report, and Boxing Scene for the number of successful punches each boxer landed for each fight.
Currencies were converted from USD to GBP and EUR on the 01.03.2023 using Xe.